Table 5.

Activation Gibbs free energies, exothermicity, contribution of alternative pathways and comparison of methyl group vs. ring oxidation with experimental data in oxidation reactions of 2-nitrotoluene and 2,6-dinitrotoluene by permanganate anion

Attack	ΔG≠ [kcal mol−1]	ΔGR [kcal mol−1]	% F	% FDFT/% Fexp 5
2-nitrotoluene
Cm	25.8	−19.1	93.1	93/87
C1-C2	29.9	−5.0	0.1	7/13
C2-C3	28.5	−7.7	1.0
C3-C4	27.9	−2.7	3.2
C4-C5	28.9	0.2	0.6
C5-C6	28.2	−0.7	1.8
C1-C6	29.4	−0.4	0.2
2,6-dinitrotoluene
Cm	24.2	−20.3	67.6	68/58
C1-C2	28.0	−8.3	0.1	32/42
C2-C3	26.1	−11.0	2.5
C3-C4	24.7	−2.2	29.8